Cynthia Hayes, founding principal of Thinking Well, has more than 21 years of experience as an operating manager, a strategic consultant and a trainer. Prior to founding Thinking Well, she directed her own consulting firm, Hayes Strategies, where she developed special expertise in identifying opportunities for new and existing businesses and helping clients manage change.
She has provided strategic direction to a number of companies in transition through assignments related to new business development, corporate and business unit strategy, marketing strategy and tactics, as well as organization design. Through these assignments she has helped clients respond to changing market conditions, identify new customer needs and how to serve them, develop new management processes and structures and leverage existing skills and assets into new growth opportunities.
In addition to her consulting work, Ms. Hayes has developed and taught a number of executive training workshops and seminars. Based on her marketing and strategic planning expertise, these courses help client companies develop internal strengths in strategic and analytical thinking, branding and brand equity management and data-driven business presentations.
Ms. Hayes has also taught graduate level courses in management at New York University Sloan School of Business and has been a frequent speaker at Promax Television Marketing Executives Association. She serves as a Commissioner to the New York City Commission on Women’s Issues.
"Cynthia was a great instructor who made valuable linkages between the materials being covered and their applicability to our jobs.
--Director, Strategy & Marketing, Media Company
Laura Teller, founding principal of Thinking Well, has 20 years of management consulting and training experience. In addition to Thinking Well, she also founded TellerGroup Consulting, Inc. a strategy consultancy focused on general organizational strategy, marketing, positioning, and new business development/market assessment. Prior to establishing TellerGroup in 1987, she was a Senior Associate with McKinsey & Co.
Drawing on her marketing and strategic planning expertise, Ms. Teller has also developed a range of workshops and seminars focused on positioning, strategic and analytical thinking, brand equity management, and best practices in marketing and direct marketing.
In addition to her corporate training activities, Ms. Teller has been a Lecturer at the University of Miami’s School of Business, where she taught a course on management consulting, and an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where she taught courses on advertising management. She also has delivered presentations on “Building Your Business Through Direct Mail” to the American Society of Travel Agents, “Making Your Destination The Destination” to various regional tourist associations, and “Adding To Your Bottom Line Through Cost Saving” to the New York Venture Group and American Express’s Minority Business Seminar series.
Ms. Teller is co-author (with Warren Schatz) of a book published by HarperCollins (1995), Small Business, Big Savings. The book, which provides strategies for saving money on business purchases, was an alternate selection of the Fortune and the Executive book clubs, and was chosen as a recommended book by the National Association of Self-Employed.
Ms. Teller holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar (top 5% of the class). She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Yale University, where she graduated cum laude with honors in her major.
"Laura is an articulate and animated speaker with a strong knowledge base. The way she incorporates examples from her own experience adds relevancy and reality to the course material.”
--Manager, Customer Service, Financial Services Firm